Blizzard announces “freemium” online trading card game

HearthStone: Heroes of Warcraft is Blizzard's first "freemium" model game.

BOSTON—Blizzard confirmed that it is working on a new small-scale game titled HearthStone: Heroes of Warcraft at a conference at PAX Friday. The game is a collectible-card-style game played online and will be Blizzard's "first free-to-play" title.

The model is "something we've wanted to experiment with for a while... A lot of people at Blizzard have played CCGs for a really long time," said Rob Pardo, chief creative officer at Blizzard. But the company wanted to focus on making a trading card game that's more accessible and "not just something that us hardcore nerds would play."

The game is based on Warcraft lore and will have 300 cards at launch, with five cards per pack. Blizzard has yet to determine pricing but estimates that each five-card pack will cost "around a dollar." The game will also employ a freemimum model: players can earn packs by playing, but their progress will be slower than someone who simply buys packs outright.

The game features a (slightly overdone) pack-unwrapping interface/animation.

Cards will come in the WoW-like strains of "common," "rare," "epic," and "legendary." Blizzard has designed an animation for "unwrapping" packs of cards online where each card is dramatically turned over and announces itself if it is of a higher designation than "common."

When building a deck inside a section of the game called "The Forge," users can disenchant duplicates and cards they don't need from packs and use the arcane dust generated to build the cards they need. Many cards can be used multiple ways (e.g. the player can use a card to draw two cards or restore 8 health to another card). Hero cards have specific powers they can use once per turn.

The deck-building interface, where players can disenchant cards and create new ones.

The game will be available for both Windows and Mac as well as the iPad, and Blizzard noted that it is currently playtesting the latter platform internally. Blizzard stated that the game would be out soon—"IRL soon," not "Blizzard soon"—with a beta out this summer and a full release this calendar year.

PAX East attendees will have access to a HearthStone demo of the game on the show floor, where Ars Gaming Editor Kyle Orland is on the ground. Stay tuned for his first-hand impressions of the game.

Promoted Comments

This seems remarkably uninspired (from a gameplay perspective). I dunno, but nothing in this seems any different than any other CCG, really. Being able to use a card for two different things or a custom unwrap animation doesn't really do enough to separate this from the other CCGs.

I dunno, maybe they can pull in the mythos enough to keep players engaged, but the base gameplay seems... weak. I mean, there's ALREADY a Warcraft CCG, and I hear it's actually really good (never played it myself)!

We'll have to see, I guess, but so far nothing I've seen pulls this away from preexisting ccgs.

$1 per pack? Oh that's dangerous. I might have a new addiction in the near future.

7 posts | registered Aug 10, 2011

Casey Johnston
Casey Johnston is the former Culture Editor at Ars Technica, and now does the occasional freelance story. She graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Applied Physics. Twitter@caseyjohnston

While it's not as exciting as a new IP would be, it's nice to see Blizzard do something a little different than their standard WoW expansion/Startcarft game/Diablo game. I'll probably give it a looksee when it comes out.

If Blizzard is smart, they'll make it playable from within WoW and give you some small perks for linking your CCG account to your Battle.Net account. Heck, since it's freemium, Blizzard could just automatically set up a CCG account for everyone that has an active WoW sub and also provide CCG cards via mob drops or quest rewards in-game .

If Blizzard is smart, they'll make it playable from within WoW and give you some small perks for linking your CCG account to your Battle.Net account. Heck, since it's freemium, Blizzard could just automatically set up a CCG account for everyone that has an active WoW sub and also provide CCG cards via mob drops or quest rewards in-game .

If Blizzard is smart, they'll make it playable from within WoW and give you some small perks for linking your CCG account to your Battle.Net account. Heck, since it's freemium, Blizzard could just automatically set up a CCG account for everyone that has an active WoW sub and also provide CCG cards via mob drops or quest rewards in-game .

While not a big fan of pay to win, it truly is nice to see Warcraft moving in a new direction. I won't be playing this but I'm not against it either so long as they try to keep it balanced in some way in free versus paid player encounters.

As someone who has been playing WoW from the beginning, and Warcraft III before that, I really, really despise what Blizzard has become. It's Magic, it's Farmville, it's Pokemon! Don't forget your daily quests!

This is the same as League of Legends. Mechwarrior Online. World of Tanks (tho has gold ammo).

I don't like it, but I can accept the idea of "free" games that allow you to take short cuts by paying for those short cuts as long as you can also eventually get the same results by playing without paying.What I hate (and what we're seeing more and more of) is "free" games (especially mobile games and even some pay games) that require microtransaction payments in order to actually play the game past a certain level. I miss the days of knowing that when you bought a game, you wouldn't be hit up repeatedly throughout the game for more money.

Here's hoping it's well balanced for free-to-play. I'd be willing to drop some cash on a good digital ccg, but it's going to have to prove itself in the free-to-play space first. For reference, it was probably close to six months of playing LoL before I dropped any cash on it. It wouldn't have to take that long, but it would have to be engaging, or worthwhile, to a similar extent.

What I hate (and what we're seeing more and more of) is "free" games (especially mobile games and even some pay games) that require microtransaction payments in order to actually play the game past a certain level. I miss the days of knowing that when you bought a game, you wouldn't be hit up repeatedly throughout the game for more money.

It may not have been micro transactions, but we used to call those games "shareware"...

If Blizzard is smart, they'll make it playable from within WoW and give you some small perks for linking your CCG account to your Battle.Net account. Heck, since it's freemium, Blizzard could just automatically set up a CCG account for everyone that has an active WoW sub and also provide CCG cards via mob drops or quest rewards in-game .

It's already linked to your Bnet account. You have to create one to play the game.

Fun little side gig for Blizz. I'm interested in trying it out, especially on the iPad. That format is perfect for CCG (with a good UI/UE).

Lately I've soured on the iPad version of M:tG. The ruleset just has too much unnecessary nonsense. So many cards are so powerful and so versatile that every game just seems like "do all the things!!111!" Its lost a lot of its strategic interest, and hence replayability. Sort of like playing a game of solitaire where you could stack the cards anywhere. It becomes pointless.

It may not have been micro transactions, but we used to call those games "shareware"...

Shareware was a lot different though. Those free floppys were a great way to advertise and sell your game. Shareware usually let you play a full episode or level and then gave you the option to buy the full game and once you bought the full game you could play everything in the full game. You didn't have to pay for extra for the BFG to beat the boss at the end of the free level.

The game will also employ a freemimum model: players can earn packs by playing, but their progress will be slower than someone who simply buys packs outright.

Translation: pay to win

This has always been true of CCG's IRL and online. Trust me, I know, I've played Magic the Gathering on and off again for most of my life. You can build good decks without a lot of cash, but most will never be able to keep up with the people who are willing to buy boxes of new boosters every time a new expansion comes out.

This seems remarkably uninspired (from a gameplay perspective). I dunno, but nothing in this seems any different than any other CCG, really. Being able to use a card for two different things or a custom unwrap animation doesn't really do enough to separate this from the other CCGs.

I dunno, maybe they can pull in the mythos enough to keep players engaged, but the base gameplay seems... weak. I mean, there's ALREADY a Warcraft CCG, and I hear it's actually really good (never played it myself)!

We'll have to see, I guess, but so far nothing I've seen pulls this away from preexisting ccgs.

The game will also employ a freemimum model: players can earn packs by playing, but their progress will be slower than someone who simply buys packs outright.

Translation: pay to win

This has always been true of CCG's IRL and online. Trust me, I know, I've played Magic the Gathering on and off again for most of my life. You can build good decks without a lot of cash, but most will never be able to keep up with the people who are willing to buy boxes of new boosters every time a new expansion comes out.

Don't forget some tabletop strategy games. Warhammer(40k), for instance. Or closer to CCGs, the D&D miniatures game or ClickyTech.

As someone who has been playing WoW from the beginning, and Warcraft III before that, I really, really despise what Blizzard has become. It's Magic, it's Farmville, it's Pokemon! Don't forget your daily quests!

I'd agree with you, except that the Pokemon pet battles are a lot of fun.

I think it's really telling regarding the climate of gaming market these days when even Blizzard and Valve are cashing in on the free-to-play garbage...

Telling of what? That Blizzard likes to make money? Gaming companies aren't making games out of the goodness of their own hearts. They make game to be successful so they can make money off of them. Why wouldn't Blizzard branch out into a freemium, made for tablet, type of game. Honestly, I say kudos to them for evolving with the gaming culture. I'll reserve my negative opinions for if the game actually sucks.